Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Teacher Appreciation Day gift? It's for the birds.

Ok, ok. I know it has been forever since I posted. The sheer craziness that has been my life has left no time to blog. It's really the saddest darn thing. I LOVE blogging and I LOVE my new friends made through blogging. I feel like a part of me has been missing! I swear I have lots to update you on and that is coming soon, but for now.. I need your help!

On this fine morning of Teacher Appreciation Day, in the midst of pre-MCAS chaos, one of my darlings handed me a tupperware container. What surprise could be in this container, you are wondering. That would be this...

Those are five baby bird eggs, from God knows where. He told me that his house was having renovations done and the nest was pulled apart and abandoned and he took the eggs in. Apparently, he thought his science teacher would know what to do. Well, she doesn't.

Not only do I have no idea what to do with these eggs, I have no idea what kind of eggs they are, where to put them, how to keep them warm, and what the heck I will do if they really hatch. I have already researched if there is somewhere I can bring them and I'm not having much luck. I know that you aren't even supposed to have wild eggs without a permit but I really have no clue what to do. I teach in the city and bringing the container out to the recess yard on a cold, rainy morning just feels worse than trying to keep them warm while I figure out what to do next.

Right now I have tissues covering them because we tried a heat lamp from the iguana in sixth grade and that was too hot. What would you do??? Where do I bring them??? Help!

1 comment:

They're House Sparrow eggs-- I had the same issue when a student of mine brought in an egg and I wasn't sure what it was (it was unfortunately broken open and the yolk (with some blood!) was dripping out of it). I showed her how we could type in a description of the egg and use google to find an image of what the egg looks like-- then see what that website the picture is from tells us the egg is. Once we have a name, we searched for that particular egg type and make sure other pictures matched it. It was a great little technology lesson that we had :)

If there are chicks (which would be dead by now) in the eggs, I recommend throwing them out-- they will start to rot and you don't want that smell in your classroom. However if there's just yolk in them, you can put a pin whole on each end (top and bottom) and drain out the yolk and let them dry to preserve them and show in class. Figuring out if there's a chick inside might be difficult-- I'm not sure if the use a bright light method would work on these types of eggs. You could try removing the yolk and if it still feel heavy to you, that might mean there's a chick embryo inside.

About Me

I am a fifth grade math and science teacher in an urban school district. This is my fifth year teaching fifth grade! I am currently working on my Master's degree in Special Education: Moderate Disabilities K-8 while planning a wedding! (Whose idea was that?!?) My kiddos are the number one reason I love my job and I can't imagine doing anything else!